Reading Response:tony Hoagland "Obsession"

Obsession
By Jose R. Gonzalez

I really like Hoagland's point of view on obsession.  I agree with him that an obsession is a great source for someone’s writing.  An obsession is something that haunts you, bothers you and doesn’t let you sleep. You learn everything you can about it and become an expert on this topic. That’s why authors have such easy time writing about their obsession. They have acquired some much knowledge about their obsession, which it almost feels natural to write about it. I also understand that writing about the same topic again and again can become redundant, boring and dull. I believe a great writer can make their obsession their muse and keep it relevant somehow. If your obsession is love, money, death or anything, all these things are affected by their environment.  I think a good writer should be able to keep their obsession updated and see how it affects its environment and how it changes.

I think of my own obsession with death. An easy out would be to talk about how death cannot be stop.  Just because my obsession is with death doesn’t mean I cannot be creative and see other ways to write about it. An example would be to write about famous dead people having tea in heaven or hell and talking about how they get there. I’m still talking about death but I have taken a complete new approach.  I think this is what Tony Hoagland what’s going for when he wrote this essay.  The idea that your obsession can feed you inspiration but is up to the writer to decide how this obsession taste  and how it can be digested by the reader.

Notebook Poem: Festering Neon Distraction

Festering Neon Distraction
By Jose R. Gonzalez


Bright neon signs of women dancing.
The stench of cheap liquor and even cheaper women.
A scent of whiskey,cigarettes and poor decisions.

The night wants to hide this place in its shadows.
A symphony of lust and chaos,
the drunk shout outs from the so-called gentlemen,
The fake laughs of the women trying to please them.

I remember its sanguine walls,
They looked like paintings of sin,broken hearts, and broken dreams.
Dad told me "Respect the women, they made a hard decision".
One of them once told me I was cute,
I stare at her purple top because of the bright sequins,
Too young to look for something else.

I asked Dad if I should respect the gentlemen.
A huge smile on his face, a toothpick in his mouth
He looked down at me, smile, looked at the place
He just said "What gentlemen?".

Reading Response # 6 Stephen Dunn

One of the first “hot spots” from Stephen Dunn was the idea of revisiting your poems after a long time. I believe this a great exercise to explore how much as a writer has evolved ever since that poem. The idea that we would be the same person after years of writing a poem seems far fetch. Even if we haven’t changed as person is like Stephen Dunn said “even if you remained the same, the world around you hasn’t…”.Even if you still feel like you’re the same person that wrote that poem, your environment has change. You have to be able to reflect on the changes in your environment and decided if your poem is really delivering the right message on this different environment. Another thing that I found extremely fascinating was the idea of “Trusting the tale, not the teller”. Dunn talked about how a poem can seem to be reflecting life when in reality everything can be fictitious. I like the way he phrase it “With luck, it’ll live as the poem’s good companion, casting some light and maybe a few shadows”. The truth can serve as tool to help the reader think what might be a reality and what might make believe. It is up to the reader to make the guess but is up to the author to guide the reader in the right direction of the poem.

One of my question towards Dunn would be “When do you know that you have found what you want to say in a poem?” He talked about after a few stanzas he decided to change the personality of the angel. After that he wanted the angel to find some support or help from the angel community. Finally, he wanted the angel to heal and to go back to his old ways. But he also talked about how he thought of making the angle take a new step in life or a new attitude.  When do you know what you want to say? And How do you know you’re a saying enough?

I really like and agree with his method of writing. I was a bit skeptical at the beginning but after reading about his process I was really impressed. I always have been a person that likes to know what he’s going to say before writing it. This idea of writing a few stanzas and then really think about what you can do with your poem really hasn’t been my method of writing. I like it and I agree with his technique because it lets you explore different ideas and places where you want to take the poems. In his case he could have let the angel give up on humanity or he could have realized that there a darker side of life. There were a lot of choices that Dunn could have played with on the poem. I think that was one of the main things I got from this reading. Just because you have an idea of what you want to write doesn’t mean that’s the only option.

...Still afraid
By Jose R. Gonzalez

Afraid of love.
Afraid of my own thoughts
afraid of the unknown.
Afraid of never leaving
afraid of being caged up

Afraid for those I love,
afraid of those who fear nothing.
Afraid of the truth tainted by fear,
afraid of the cries of the ground.
Afraid like a child without his parents.

Afraid of those who can't cast a shadow
afraid that the Sun never smiles at me again.
afraid that I'm just breathing instead of living.

Afraid is the moment when real bravery rises.
Afraid of trading crying shoulders for fake smiles.
Afraid of trigger fingers and suicidal thoughts.
Afraid that like his father....He's fearless.
Fearless,Smart, Brave...still afraid.